Editorials

Race In the South

Resentment builds over frayed relationships

Published Friday, November 15, 2013 9:15 am

by Kim Richardson

Have you thought about race lately? I hadn’t until I was forced to recently. I always felt that race relations in U.S. were much better than it was when our ancestors lived it. I felt that although there maybe a couple of racist in the world but the majority of the population was educated and accepting of everyone’s different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. I hadn’t experienced any major traumatic event of racism until now.

On September 24, my son, Milton Dunlap, was wrongfully arrested. There was a group of boys that was breaking into homes across town that was also involved in a police chase, they decided to crash their vehicle in my neighborhood and run. My son was going to his new two-week old car that I had bought him to get gas when he sees a police officer saying go back into the house. He ran, he didn’t know what was going on or why a police officer wearing a bullet-proof vest pointing and a gun would instruct him to go into the house. He texted me “Mom swat is outside.” I did a search on the local news stations website and saw that the police was looking for a suspect so I texted him back, “It’s okay son they are looking for someone.”

He hears over a bull horn for him and my husband to come out with their hands up. My son and husband comply and exit the home with hands up. My son and husband was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. A dog was sent to sniff my son. My youngest daughter calls me and says “Mom they have Dad and Trey in handcuffs." Frantic, I race to the police station to find out what’s going on. In disbelief, I am calling lawyers because I had never heard of people being dragged out of their homes, placed in handcuffs and taken downtown for nothing.

Once there I was denied access to my son even when counsel arrived we were denied access to him, no one came to talk to me about what was going on. They only wanted me to sign for them to be able to search my home. They eventually released my husband, who told them that he was home all day with my son. They arrested him and kept him in jail for three days, they charged him with approximately 14-17 felonies and the bail was 76,000.00 secured. I could not afford it, was not getting answers as to why they was arresting him. My son is only 18, had never been in trouble before, has a job that he has held for two years and was supposed to start college October 16.

During the first hearing my whole family came we took up two rows in the court room, I stood along with Trey’s girlfriend Nysha and my father and address the judge, explaining that he didn’t do this requesting the bond be lowered. The judge said with felony’s he don’t address bond that day we had to wait until the bond hearing but he would allow pretrial release to screen him. I gave pretrial release my information and two days after that they did allow him to come home with an ankle monitor.

I did press conferences and showed the media the evidence I had that my son was innocent which included text messages from him to family and friends and a post to instagram at 11:48 a.m. 9/24/13 (the 911 calls for the break ends started 11:14 a.m. across town) and I stated he had been home playing video games, he beat a game and posted that video to instagram from his bedroom. I also posted my story to Facebook ,instagram and twitter. Finally some high school friend reached out and started to support me. We put pressure on the local police department to drop the charges and on Oct. 2, they did. Because of this I have starting researching and paying attention to the relationship between North Carolina police and African Americans. I have learned of a couple of stories that have alarmed me and has opened my eyes to what is truly going on in the Carolinas.

• On Feb 20, Purple Heart veteran Jamar Davis was shot multiple times for speeding and having a gun in the car. Once stopped Mr. Davis was shot instead of commanded to exit the vehicle with his hands up or any type of warning. He then was left on the ground without medical attention for over 20 minutes. Once hospitalized, his mother was barred from the hospital floor for two days. He was shot at least seven times in the head, neck and back area.

• In October, Graham Hosch was choked out by police and his windpipe is crushed.

In September, Marion County Police detained and handcuffed Cherie Johnson and Dennis White, accusing them of having drugs, but they were visiting and sight-seeing.

Don Yelton, Buncombe County chairman said during an interview” if the law hurt college students, whites, or “a bunch of lazy blacks that wants the government to give them everything, so be it.” He also added that the law is “going to kick Democrats in the butt.”

There is numerous stories like these. It makes me wonder what should we be telling our children about what to do when encountered by the police? I have enclosed links to websites with these stories on them please research these stories. I feel these needs to be made public.